I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I just had enough the other day and decided to sell some bottles on Ebay. I have perfume that I like but don't love and don't wear that often. I have perfume that sits neglected because I feel I should wear a different scent every day and their turn rarely comes. I have a couple I feel I should own because people rave about them on blogs and forums, but to be honest, I don't really enjoy them. So... Everything must go! I've decided to keep perfume I absolutely can't live without and get rid of the rest, regardless whether it is niche, expensive or whatever.

I've already sold several bottles and have more to go. I feel really good about this, like I'm taking control over my habit. I'm sure I'll always find something new and exciting that I 'must' have but luckily, this has been happening less and less lately. I really hope that I'll learn to enjoy a small number of bottles once again.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Originally Posted by Frenchie Day

Anyone going through a similar phase?

Not with bottles of fragrance, because I'm very controlled about that, but we've been whittling away at stuff for years (Mom and Dad never threw anything away), and we're nearing the final round. I love the feeling of "debulking," as we refer to it at our house, and then casting an eye over whatever goods occupy a room and feeling topnotch about every single preserved item. Of course, what's nice about perfume is that you can keep a sample or decant, so it's not like you're severing all ties. I love the feeling of owning only the best of the best. A sense of control is an elixir.

In a world where 6 million people are added each month, every landscape matters.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I love getting rid of things. It really is liberating. At least once a year I go through my things and end up giving quite a few items to charity. it is nice to have less and not be suffocated by furniture or old clothes.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Yes, indeed! I don't like to look at my fragrance collection and see bottles that are neglected. Often times a fragrance will be somebody's signature or favorite scent, and I derive a lot of pleasure in seeing to it that the fragrance in question goes to someone who will love it.

The other part is unloading fragrances for a bit of extra cash to either make up for an overextended month or put towards a new purchase (sometimes both, simultaneously!)

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I understand what youre saying Frenchie, but I tend to look at it this way... the unused fragrances in my collection are "antiques of the future".
Unless you need the money or the space, I see no harm in storing them away carefully to be revisited some years from now, or passed on/sold in years to come to those who seek the current flacons and formulations.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Originally Posted by Sorcery of Scent

I understand what youre saying Frenchie, but I tend to look at it this way... the unused fragrances in my collection are "antiques of the future".
Unless you need the money or the space, I see no harm in storing them away carefully to be revisited some years from now, or passed on/sold in years to come to those who seek the current flacons and formulations.

Hmmmmm, not a bad idea. But I'm feeling really restless at the moment and need to get rid of stuff.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

We're doing general thinning down in our house. The accumulation of "stuff" is insidious-- before you know it, it's hard to move around in your own home. Basement and attic storage areas get filled up, and the excess ends up on the basement floor in boxes.

It gets worse when parents die or relocate, and you have to settle their estates or clean out their homes...it's not always so easy knowing what the best thing is to do with everything. I find it goes in waves; now we're at it again. Yesterday we found a home for Mom's very nice convection toaster oven; we've also been donating books, and bags full of our daughter's outgrown toys that she is finally willing to part with.

I do have a few fragrances that I don't need but they aren't desirable or rare enough to be worth listing on eBay, and not worth paying postage to ship to anyone as a freebie-- sometimes the local thrift shop is the best place for such things. It does feel good to pare down to what you actually want and use.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

That's great! I admire you for taking action to change the way you feel about your collection. I can totally relate to that restless feeling of wanting to purge. But I don't want to deal with the hassle of selling them. I am planning on donating some in the spring and am really looking forward to that. I wish I knew someone who I could just give a whole load of bottles to, but no one around me seems that into fragrances.

For now I think I should just pack away most of my fragrances, and leave only a few favorites accessible for wearing. I can pretend that is all I have.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Gosh, I haven't stopped by here in months, maybe even a couple of years. I've whittled down my collection considerably during the last few months and for the most part am sticking with the frags that I love the most (which may be 20 or less). Previously I kept jumping on the niche bandwagon and then disappointed myself by the fact that what may have elevated the sensories on others just didn't do it for me after awhile. There are scents that I once loved that simply bore me now. It's been an evolution of sorts and in some ways, a shame. Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan, Yohji, Messe de Minuit, and Coty Chypre are sadly orphaned at the back of my collection and have been upstaged by others that have won my heart. Hopefully, I can find loving homes on eBay for them.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Fufu! It has been a long time. Heya!

Knowing I'll likely meet up with BNers again, I've built up a stash of samples and decants which will get left behind at the next get-together. One year I put out everything on our groups' lunch table after our meal and said that whatever the perfumistas didn't take away would simply be left for the wait staff as the oddest tip ever left.

In a world where 6 million people are added each month, every landscape matters.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Happy New Year everybody!!
How are you doing? Any crazy resolutions like "I'll never buy perfume again until I use up everything I have"?
I have almost reached that point. My collection is getting smaller thanks to Ebay and I'm very happy about that. This purging phase has been great. I got rid of many bottles and have gained a new perspective on my habit. I really don't need much to be happy. Corny I know, but so true. It has become more easy to resist temptation, like items on sale or good deals on Ebay. On the other hand, I've found a few perfumes I have fallen in love with and plan to buy eventually. (Talking to you Musc Ravageur). But no rush. I want to use up a few bottles first.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I am just exactly in the very same position, I catalogue my perfumes in 3 categories, depending on how easy are to find, how delicious they are and how expensive too. So I decided to get rid of my "daily ones" which are 4 or 5 that actually makes me feel upset just looking at them, like for example Lolita Au Masculine which bottle I hate. It is better to stick only to the very best for our noses and get rid of everything else )

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I understand the urge to purge. You have to go with what moves you at any given point in your life. Life is timing.....and timing is extremely important.

I am currently on the other end of the spectrum. I am merging with the urge to splurge and enlarging my drobe and collection. If anything were ever to happen and I needed money, I can move them for probably more than I paid for them. That goes for my used classics as well. As time moves on, the majority of them increase in value since they are harder and harder to come by.

I have no way of ever wearing them all or even putting a large dent in just my open bottles that I use rotationally. I guess you can say it's like a very weird savings account that I can enjoy at any given moment.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I'm trying to reduce the number of my bottles but I can't "purge." I just can't do it. I love them all. Instead, I use them up without replacing so many. However, eventually, I have to do something about some of the summer citrus scents I used up. But in this case, I decided I might get only one out of the three or four that I used to have in that category.

Also, this year I have to catch up on sampling. I did nothing last year! That is not cool.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I have been trying to buy much smaller bottles of just about everything. Trying to go with 10ml rollerballs for anything mainstream and available in that form, for example.

Anything I own that would be worth anything in 'vintage' form will definitely be used up and enjoyed long before it comes to that age. The problem I have is that some of the deals on FB of 'cheapies' or mainstream scents (eg: Lola by Marc Jacobs which I love but have a huge 100ml of) are too hard to pass up. I'd love to have a group of friends to trade / swap / sell decants to in order to get through those bottles faster but alas none of my friends are really much into fragrance and thanks to the industry I can't sell decants online.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Originally Posted by 30 Roses

Have you tried listing on the swap board on the Basenotes Marketplace?

I haven't. I actually don't want more perfume, I want to seriously reduce my collection and not buy anything for a while.
I don't have much compared to most people here but the number is still bothering me and I've decided to be ruthless and get rid of perfume that I'm not in love with. I'm moving to a new flat in a few months and I want to take the minimum of my stuff.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Frenchie- I share your sentiments exactly. I too don't like to see a 'neglected' perfume, and feel bad for it, in a way. I just took one such bottle and split it into (5) 15 ml decants to give to folks who don't have access to western perfumes. I still held some aside for myself, though.

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

BayKat,

at the moment I have 21. I think that most I've ever had at one point was about 35. Not a big collection but it's not what i need.
I think 15 would be a nice, managable number for me as well.

I'm going to use up several bottles before I buy anything new. And when I buy something I want it to be a perfume that makes my heart sing, that makes me happy. I've bought too many so-so frags and felt dissappointed. I have no desire to keep them. The same goes for those that don't work on my skin (talking to you Shalimar, you lemon sponge cake thingy :-(

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

Originally Posted by 30 Roses

We're doing general thinning down in our house. The accumulation of "stuff" is insidious-- before you know it, it's hard to move around in your own home. Basement and attic storage areas get filled up, and the excess ends up on the basement floor in boxes.

It gets worse when parents die or relocate, and you have to settle their estates or clean out their homes...

I empathize. We had numerous deaths recently in my family, and I am realizing that the time will come when I might have to empty my parents' house. I have inherited my parents' tendency towards hoarding, and I know I should try to rid myself of this habit.

Originally Posted by Quarry

One year I put out everything on our groups' lunch table after our meal and said that whatever the perfumistas didn't take away would simply be left for the wait staff as the oddest tip ever left.

Ha!! I love it!

Originally Posted by Sorcery of Scent

the unused fragrances in my collection are "antiques of the future".

True. I have some bottles of old scent that I just can't bear to use. I know their quality is probably deteriorating every day/every year, much as a mummified hand probably doesn't smell nearly as good 2000 years later as it did on embalming day. And yet I just can't bear to either use them or give them away.

As for the rest, Augh!, the energy it takes to sell them, is draining. The culling is draining as well.

"Embrace those things which give you pleasure, after all, there is so much mediocrity to endure elsewhere." -- Inselaffe

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I have been loading up the car as much as twice a week with donations to the local Goodwill & Helping Hands organizations. Then I had the Vietnam veterans pick up here at the house. I'm still divesting of an overabundance of "Stuff" and it's actually good stuff. But....we must sell the house & move, so it has to go. Odd dynamic happening though, the more I throw or give away the more weight I am gaining. There has to be a correlation.

I was going to see if it would be legal for me to offer to swap perfume for help with cleaning stuff out of my house. I need so helpers desperately.

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. ~Herman Melville

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I was going to see if it would be legal for me to offer to swap perfume for help with cleaning stuff out of my house. I need so helpers desperately.

For a while I was swapping perfume for baby clothes. No lie. One of the onesies I got was like the BEST onesie I had. I can't find anything like it in stores!!!!

If I were back in Illinois, I'd drive to St. Louis to help you UN-pack, just for a whiff of Après L'ondée. But alas, I've moved down south.

Currently, I'm packing up some bottles to mail. it's quite painful. Some of the bottles are just beautiful. And even being equivocal about the scent, I'm loathe to part with them. But the JUICE MUST BE USED. So off to the post office I go!

"Embrace those things which give you pleasure, after all, there is so much mediocrity to endure elsewhere." -- Inselaffe

Re: I'm purging my collection and feel good about it

I do empathize with all of this! I'm a natural hoarder ... drawers full of samples and bottles which I don't really care for that much but find it hard to let go of, "just in case" I might one day want to wear Aromatics Elixir, or Paul Smith Rose, or Parfum Sacre Intense (I love the original PS, just not so crazy about the flanker). Perfumes I like but don't truly love. But, hey, what if one day I start to really love them? Or ran out of Parfum Sacre and found it was discontinued? Or if ... well, I'm sure you know. I really, really need to get a grip. I'm not actually curating a perfume museum, after all.
I think 15 full bottles sounds like a reasonable number, and maybe only half a dozen samples.
I remember clearing out my Mum's house when she died, and she had two drawers full of unused manicure sets and half a wardrobe packed with unopened bath salts and colognes! I'm heading the same way if I don't watch it.